Got It - At Last!

[jonesfam]

Folks
Finnally have picked up our new D3 TDV6 & got it home.
Must say I'm mighty impressed. Drives very well, plenty of go for our needs, comfortable & great on thr gravel roads.
We got an ARB B/Bar which looks great, roof rails, side steps, rubber mats fo all 3 rows, tint, rear A/C, rear entertainment & the dicky little mud flaps.
Picked her up in Townsville on the 11th, used as a wedding car on 13th, driven to Ravenshoe, back to Townsville for 1000k service then 900k home to Doomadgee.
2 small problems. Wjile driving at about 90kph on gravel with 1200kg trailer & roof pod the Park Brake light started flashing. No message in the message screen, stoped, set & released park brake, light went away. It did this twice in a short time then did not do it again? Odd, I will have it checked next service.
Got a 19" flat tyre in the first week, repaired, but because I wound the spare tyre winch up with no weight the winch will not come back down. Will try to fix this week-end.
Still love the car, wife loves the car even if she turns on the wipers instead of the blinkers.
Bought a raised adjustable tow hitch which levels out our trailer & I can still remove it.
Anyway, love the thing, cool fun playing with the suspension & in a week or 2 i hope to get her off road for a bit.
Jonesfam

[WhiteD3]

Congrats on the purchase. I've found you need to keep some weight on the spare winch when winding it up unloaded. Difficult to do by yourself, so I wind it a few turns, get under the car and pull it down, then wind a few more turns, and so on.

[chuck]

Thanks for the picture - I recently bought an 09 in silver & was wondering what the bullbar would look like.

Mines a TDV6 SE with rear diff lock.

Regards

Chuck

[Tote]

We had the same problem with the handbrake on corrugations near Alice Springs, haven't made it happen again, I suspect that the electric handbrake loosens up over the corrugations and a sensor detects that it has lost tension.
The spare tyre winch will be a warranty job I had mine replaced as well. Always keep a weight on it when winding it in or out.

Regards,
Tote

[jonesfam]

Thanks all.
Chuck
Several people have commented on how good the ARB bar looks. Even the salesman ( a real Landophile) said he hated the idea of the front bumper coming off but that the silver ARB bar looked almost as good.
1 big advantage is you don't have to take off the plastic plate to get at the front recovery point, it is exposed & solidly connected to the bottom of the bar. Hard to see as every thing under there is painted black.

I have learnt my lesson re the spare tyre winch. I wound it up because I threw the flat in the trailer & didn't want the winch cable banging around under the car. The winch mechanism seems to have a cover held on by 4 nuts/bolts, I hope if I take this off I can untwist/wind the cable & put the spare back. I don't want to tow the trailer just to go up to Hell's Gate.

The Park Brake light thing happened the second time over heavy corrugations, the first time I did not notice but I think there was corrugations as well. After the second time I deliberately drove the worst part of the corrugations to try to make it happen again but it wouldn't, maybe adjusted it's self?
Love the sound putting on the park brake makes that you can hear if the door is open.

BTW What is with the release of air pressure shortly after you pull up sometimes? Sounds like a truck.:o

Much better car than the Pathfinder - I reckon it is worth every cent of the extra money in comfort, space, practicality, performance & aesthetics. Some of the options are a bit over the top though.

I have extended the original rear mudflaps to stop stones pinging off the trailer into the back of the car. This looks a bit ugly & amateurish, does anyone make longer rear mudflaps for the 09 model? I believe the 09 has slightly different mudflaps due to the colour matched mudguard flares.

Thanks
Jonesfam

[Graeme]

I have extended the original rear mudflaps to stop stones pinging off the trailer into the back of the car. This looks a bit ugly & amateurish, does anyone make longer rear mudflaps for the 09 model? I believe the 09 has slightly different mudflaps due to the colour matched mudguard flares.
Best to make a stone deflector for the trailer so that stones are deflected down and out the side.

[powella]

Thanks all.
BTW What is with the release of air pressure shortly after you pull up sometimes? Sounds like a truck.:o

That is the car levelling itself, sometimes it will do it whilst you are waiting at the lights on a slight incline. A little spooky at first.

On your little spare wheel winch problem:
http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic2632.html (http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic2632.html)
http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic15894.html (http://www.disco3.co.uk/forum/topic15894.html)
Might help.

AP.

[Scouse]

The winch cable gets jammed inside the housing when there's no tension on it. It's a simple job to remove it but it is rivetted together (the 2005 MY were anyway).
You can drill/grind off the rivets & pull it apart to refit the cable properly but try pulling it out by hand to start with.

One big problem is that the winch does not have a 'stop' so if you wind it down too much, the cable will extend all the way out then start to wind back in the reverse direction, then jams because the cable runs in tracks on the winch drum.

Oh, and congratulations on the new Disco :).

[catch-22]

The ARB bar looks great on the D3's.....wish they looked that good on the D2a :(

[lrdef110]

Similar issues with parkbrake on mine on gravel road - seems dust in rear wheel where the parkbrake drum is causes this - more dust the longer the light stays on. Hose out the dust and the light goes off. Only happens on dusty roads on mine.

[Tote]

After making a few noises over the weekend mine is now stuck on so I guess Landrover assist can play with it tomorrow or tilt tray it to the dealer :(
Emergency release cable dosent work either.

Regards,
Tote

[jonesfam]

Tote
Did your hand brake go belly up on rough/dusty roads? I think I will have mine checked at the end of the month in Cairns.

I have booked the new car in to have the spare tyre winch dealt with at the Cairns dealer. I took it off but it is sealed so, rather than muck about the spare can stay in the trailer for a while & Land Rover can fix it.
A minor thing & I still love the car.:D
One other thing.
Does anyone have instructions for the factory rear entertainment system? Only the head phones on the passengers side are working in both rows (2nd & 3rd). I think that I have not done something right with the remote as the drivers & passengers side screens have to be controlled separately maybe the headphones are as well. I have sat there pushing buttons for ages but no joy.
Jonesfam

[Tote]

I suspect that the dust that had caused me problems in Alice Springs has turned to mud over the last weekend spent off road and has set in place leaving me with it stuck on.
Worth getting the brake checked next time you are near the dealer.

Regards,
Tote

[Scouse]

Does anyone have instructions for the factory rear entertainment system? There should be a separate handbook with your bookset. If not, contact your dealer & have him send one out to you.

I have one here you can have but it's in German :(.

[sniegy]

After making a few noises over the weekend mine is now stuck on so I guess Landrover assist can play with it tomorrow or tilt tray it to the dealer :(
Emergency release cable dosent work either.

Regards,
Tote

Tote,

Not sure how hard you reefed on the hand brake cable under the cover of the switch, but i did one last week on our drive day & you have to really pull HARD until it goes CLUNK, then u know it has released.

Silly me got out of the vehicle & in a normal reaction reset the handbrake as i parked the vehicle....squeeeeeeal ding ding ding. Released the HB again & drove away no problems.

Cheers. HTH.

[Tote]

I'm reasonably sure that you only get one shot at the emergency release, I let it off when we were away and it was like you describe. When I got it seviced there was a mis-communication and the dealer didnt look at it to reset it. When I tried to release it Tues night the cable loop was easily pulled out and didnt do anything.
Regards,
Tote

[Graeme]

When I got it seviced there was a mis-communication and the dealer didnt look at it to reset it.
Operating the switch the 1st time after emergency cable release is designed to reconnect the cables and ready the system for use but not to apply the brake, all without dealer intervention.

[jonesfam]

There should be a separate handbook with your bookset. If not, contact your dealer & have him send one out to you.

I have one here you can have but it's in German :(.

The dealer has posted it today.
Was supposed to be in the car when I picked it up, but it came with a parts shipment late last week.
Jonesfam

[jonesfam]

Some interesting things I have found with the new D3 & a few questions for those that have more experience & knowledge than I.
The D3 has the most accurate speedo of any of my last few cars. According to the GPS it is only 2kph slow, the Pathie was 9 & the Terracan 8 slow.
The fuel gauge, so far, seems to be very accurate. If it says half full I can pump in 42lt when the pump clicks off. That would seem pretty close out of 85lt tank.
The lights on the Terrain response, suspension & Hi/Lo range are hard to see during the day, just as well for the information center.
19" Wranglers are useless.
The car is so quiet & smooth I really have to watch my speed.
I don't know if it is the ARB bull bar or the HID low beam but there is a real cut off from light to dark at the top of the lit area making it hard to read signs on tall posts, this is only on low beam.
HID lights have a great spread & nice light to look at.
Why did they use dinky plastic door pulls when the rest of the interior is so nice?
Automatic wipers are a pain IF you leave the ignition on & wash the windscreen.
The A/C generally & the rear A/C in particular are great. Pathies was useless.
The stereo sounds very good. I have 6 MP3 disc's in there which is about 800 songs.
Does anyone have the RSE (rear seat entertainment) system without the front (dash) screen? I have mine that way & it works very well except I can't make the volume controls on the doors etc work. Has me completely flummoxed, there must be something I am not doing because all the other buttons work as advertised.
They are big mother tail lights & bright.
It's big to wash but at least it's flat, no hollows or creases to collect muck.
Some electrics seem more exposed than they should be?
That suspension is tricky.
How do you make the outside mirrors fold (SE model)? They don't want pull in & I'm not sure of forcing them.
Would like to be able to see the bull bar over the bonnet.
Where, of those with them, have you located your Scangauge2?
Great little motor & gear box.

Well, pretty dammed happy so far. A bit to get used to & a couple of very minor problems, spare wheel winch, volume on RSE, but really money well spent & I now have almost every thing I want. The Missus is impressed as well.:D
Jonesfam

[powella]

How do you make the outside mirrors fold (SE model)? They don't want pull in & I'm not sure of forcing them.
Mine on the 07 HSE are not power fold, but they do fold both backward and forward (found this out whilst reversing a little too close to a pole)...


Where, of those with them, have you located your Scangauge2?
Mine is down at the bottom of the center console where the ashtray was on older cars.

And yes I gotta agree on the motor and gear box! :)

Cheers,
AP